'19-deep' Gordon Lee baseball team ready for Class A title series

CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. - Ask a member of the Gordon Lee High School baseball team to list one main factor that has led to a spot in the GHSA Class A public school championship series, and the response is telling.

This isn't a team fueled by past defeat or a need to prove itself. The Trojans don't believe they are a team of destiny or one that nobody believes in.

What they do believe is a closeness developed through adversity has led them through the season, the playoffs and into the decisive showdown with Schley County (32-2). The best-of-three series starts today with an 11 a.m. doubleheader at Rome's State Mutual Stadium, home of the Atlanta Braves' Class A minor-league affiliate. If necessary, a third game would be played Saturday.

"Coach preaches 19 deep and everybody getting involved," junior catcher Dylan Minghini said. "Through what we've been through this year, we know we can count on any one of us to get the job done in any situation. We play for each other, not for individual stats. That helps us, more than anything, to be successful."

Gordon Lee (27-6) began the season as the state's top-ranked Class A public team, one led by a potentially dominant pitching staff that included University of Georgia-committed Chaney Rogers. Barely two weeks into the season, though, Rogers was diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament and underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Obviously, losing one of the state's top players was a big blow.

"Chaney is such a great ballplayer, so it was tough to lose him so early," said junior pitcher/outfielder Austin Thompson, who has helped fill the pitching void with a breakout 12-0 season. "But it's nice to know if you get hurt, there is someone who can come in and do your job and the team not miss a beat. We had to do it with Chaney, and we had to do it again last week."

That's when leadoff hitter Kobie Cowan's battle to overcome a knee injury took a turn for the worse. His kneecap, loosened in the quarterfinal series against Irwin County, slipped out of place on Cowan's first swing of the semifinals against Charlton County. He tried to return but has officially been ruled out of today's games.

For the Trojans, who also battled a severe flu outbreak at the midpoint of the season, it was reinforcement of what coach Mike Dunfee has said all along.

"They've bought into the 19-deep concept because when people got hurt we've had others step in and perform," Dunfee said. "That's the bottom line."

Of course, the Trojans' run to the title series hasn't just been built on team chemistry and rare depth. It's been more than three decades since the program, which has two runner-up finishes in the past four years, won a state championship.

The players know very well what it would mean to end that drought.

"The last 10 years this program has been very talented, but for whatever reason we haven't been able to bring it home," said Minghini, the team's leading hitter. "So, it would be very cool to win it and to be able to come back 20 years down the road and say, 'That was me.'"

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.